two spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral,
Florida, in 1977 on a mission to explore the outer
planets and now the most distant man-made objects in
space

As originally designed, the Voyagers
were to conduct close-up studies of Jupiter and Saturn, Saturn's
rings, and the larger moons of the two planets. But, as
the mission went on, flybys of the two outermost giant
planets, Uranus and Neptune,
proved not only possible but irresistible. Since their
launch, the two Voyagers have visited all the giant
planets of our Solar System -- Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus
and Neptune -- as well as 48 of their moons. And they are
still going!

artist rendering of a Voyager

The Golden Records

Both Voyager spacecraft carry a
greeting to any form of life. The message is carried by a
12-inch gold-plated copper disk containing 115 sounds and
images selected to portray the diversity of life and
culture on Earth, musical selections from different
cultures and eras, and spoken greetings in 55 languages.

March 5, 1979 Voyager
1 made its closest approach to Jupiter.July 9, 1979 Voyager 2 made its closest
approach to Jupiter.

November 12, 1980
Voyager 1 made its closest approach to Saturn.

August 25, 1981
Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Saturn.

January 24, 1986
Voyager 2 made its closest approach to Uranus.

August 25, 1989
Voyager 1 made its closest approach to Neptune.

February 17, 1998
Voyager 1 became the most distant human-made object in
space.

December 2004 Voyager
1 crossed the termination shock and entered the
heliosheath -- the region between the end of the Sun's
magnetic influence and the beginning of interstellar
space.

Present Status

Voyager 1 is escaping the Solar System
at a speed of about 3.6 astronomical units (AU) per year.
Voyager 2 is escaping at a speed of about 3.3 AU per
year.

Although some of the science
instruments aboard the craft have been powered down in
order preserve power, there are still five in operation.
They are:
Magnetic field investigation
Low energy charged particle investigation
Ultraviolet Spectrometer investigation
Cosmic ray investigation
Plasma wave investigation.

Although the original five-year mission
has already stretched to one of about 40 years, it is
expected that both Voyagers will continue to return
valuable data to Earth for another 20 to 30 years.

Note

It takes about 10 hours for signals from the Voyager
spacecraft to reach Earth.